St Peter & St Paul 29th June 2025

    We celebrate today Saints Peter and Paul who were part of the those who guided the early Church just after the Ascension of Jesus. Both died in early 60s, as Martyrs for the faith in Rome, during the persecutions of Emperor Nero St. Peter’s Basilica was built on top of Peter’s tomb, with the main altar directly on top of his tomb. Paul was beheaded between Rome and the sea, in a place now called Tre Fontane, Paul was also buried in the nearest cemetery and the Basilica of St. Paul’s outside the Walls was later build on top of his tomb, with the main altar directly on top of his tomb.

Peter was the first Pope and kept the early Church united as it grew very rapidly in the years following Pentecost. In the first years after Pentecost, the early Church was a very Jewish Church. With the coming of Paul, he began to preach also to non-Jewish people, the Gentiles as they were called. His preaching was very successful, and he brought huge numbers of non-Jewish people into the Church.

 Peter and Paul had very important tasks in the early Church: Peter maintaining the unity in the Church which during his lifetime had already spread throughout the Middle East and Europe, and Paul who taught the Jewish people that Jesus is the fulfilment of their Old Testament hopes and taught the Gentiles that Jesus is the Saviour.

God has already called us in our own capacity and with our limitations, through our baptism to carry on the work of the Gospel. As we look at the personalities of Peter and Paul, “it is a reminder to us that our talents and our weaknesses too can become God’s means of helping others, if we allow.” God is not looking for our perfection before we can carry out our Christian’s duties, but for our efforts and love, it is through these that we can become perfect.

Fr Jerome Otitoyomi Dukiya CSSP.